The last of the Charruas.

London, Published by H.Bailliere, 1842. Coloured aquatint, sheet 140 x 220mm. The Charrúa were an indigenous people of southern South America in the area today known as Uruguay, northeastern Argentina and southern Brazil. They were a nomadic people that sustained themselves through fishing and foraging. Charrúa people are believed to have killed Spanish explorer Juan Díaz de Solís during his 1515 voyage up the Río de la Plata. Following the arrival of European settlers, the Charrúa were progressively killed and integrated into the prevailing colonial cultures. Most of the remaining ones were massacred at Salsipuedes (literally 'Get-out-if-you-can') creek in 1831 by a group led by Bernabé Rivera, nephew of Fructuoso Rivera who had recently become the first president of Uruguay, after they were invited to a meeting and ambushed. Only a few escaped this massacre. Four of them were taken to France in 1833, including Tacuabe, to whom there is a monument in Montevideo, Uruguay. From 'Dr.Prichard's Natural History of Man'.
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